UK Camera chain store Jessops goes into administration

[Awiserbud]

BBC News - Jessops camera chain in administration

Another high street retailer bites the dust, Personally ive never been a big fan of Jessops, Always found their staff under qualified to work in a Camera shop, but it would seem they are all about to close down as the company goes into administration.
They are blaming poor sales due to competition from supermarkets (who are now deciding to sell everything and anything) and the internet.
I think it was inevitable, you can always buy cheaper online if you know what you want.

 

[Photomanic]

Always found their staff under qualified to work in a Camera shop,

I just lost my job.

 

[Awiserbud]

Always found their staff under qualified to work in a Camera shop,

I just lost my job.

Sorry to hear that Photomanic, Hope you find a replacement. (the reference to underqualified staff was just a personal experience BTW, thought i better clarify that )

 

[Photomanic]

It is ok, it all depends if you get someone who is generally interested in photography. It never seen a company just go so quickly... like Saturday trading like normal 4 days later everything is in boxes.

 

[Overread19 7]

They have some justification that the internet and supermarkets are indeed taking a lot of the potential market today - with the backlash that the more shops that close down or lower in standards the more the internet and supermarket traders gain.

That said Jessopes was in trouble long before the recession itself; bad management at the top combined with the weakening of its staff (they moved toward what many big companies do which is hiring sales staff instead of hiring photographic sales staff - the result is that they lost a good portion of their pro and advanced hobbyist photographer market) and other factors. They were already bought out a few years ago by HSBC bank so I'm not fully surprised that they have hit the fan and died.

The only bonus is that they traded by buying up local shops into their franchise so there is the potential that some local people can start up new smaller businesses in their place - sadly with the internet trading allowing much cheaper operating costs and the fact that owning a shop on a good part of any high street is very expensive it will be a hard order for them to get a good foothold on the market.

 

[Photomanic]

People would come into Jessops, play with the cameras, ask the staff about the cameras, make their mind up on which one they wanted and then go buy it online...

I don't know if i would agree with this "Jessops staff don't know about photography". Although i had not been working for them for a very long time, so i can't comment on how their staffing was before. But the people i worked with and met were knowledgeable about photography.

 

[Overread19 7]

Photomantic - it was very variable from what I could gather. Some shops did have very good staff, but others could have very poor staff or they'd have only one or two who really knew what was what and teh rest were mostly there for selling casual cameras to consumers rather than photographers.
The variation was a problem as there didn't seem to be much of a standard (though as I recall they were improving as of late). However they'd closed down several shops and many more (esp after the HSBC buyout earlier) hardly had any stock for a long while - they had banners and a few items but hardly any DSLR stock in the shop itself.

 

[Photomanic]

Hmm not really do sure on the history of the company as i only worked for about 6 months or so, i just don't know where i am going to get my photographic equipment from now.

 

[Overread19 7]

If your down south its not too bad as the London Camera Exchange has quite a few stores and around the London area there are loads. Anywhere else and there are quite a few independents setup across the country. Though sadly you might find you have to use their online ordering services unless you want a long drive.

Hopefully Jessops being off the streets might leave a gap for others to take the market, but eh its just not a good time to open a highstreet shop for anyone.